1928] 
Unusual Occurence of Gyrinus 
31 
UNUSUAL OCCURRENCE OF GYRINUS. 
By C. A. Frost, 
Framingham, Mass. 
My first specimens of Coleoptera collected in 1928 were 
taken about 1 P. M. on January 15, and, incidentally, their 
appearance indicates the unusual weather condition of the winter 
to date. 
While walking around Farm Pond in Framingham I noticed 
a few Gyrinus resting or slowly swimming about near the shore. 
The pontl had been covered with ice about six inches thick but 
the mild weather had melted large holes in it and along the shore 
the open water varied from two to twenty feet in width; the 
upper end of the pond was open over several acres. The only 
snow storm of account came on December 5th and deposited 
about two inches which soon vanished. 
Where the Gyrinus were observed several large limbs had 
fallen into the water and in a crotch of the branches was a 
partly submerged mass of leaves and pond weeds. On disturb- 
ing this, two hundred or more beetles appeared. They swam 
about over the pebbles of the bottom where the water was from 
two to eight inches deep, and under the submerged limbs or 
clung to bits of the submerged pond weeds. Many of them came 
to the surface and played about a short time while a few scurried 
out into the pond several yards and remained up to the time I 
left half an hour later. 
I took 36 specimens in my hand and these were very kindly 
determined by my friend Mr. K. F. Chamberlain, Assistant to 
the State Entomologist of New York, as G. confinis Lee., 17 
males and 19 females. 
The sky was generally cloudy with the sun occasionally 
peeping out while a cool north wind was blowing. The tem- 
perature of the air was 38° F. and the water in a neighboring 
reservoir was 35° F. at 7 A. M. the next morning. 
As a further illustration of the abnormal season, I found on 
the under side of a bit of board near the shore two species of 
